On loving our enemies

You have heard that it is said: You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who insult and persecute you... (Matthew 5:43-48)

Dear Prayer Partners,

we cannot love our enemies by our own strength. But Jesus living in us enables us to forgive and do good to our adversaries. Just as Jesus prayed when he was tortured and nailed to the cross "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do", we too may pray in Jesus' name for those who have done and are doing evil things to us. God can take control of our own thoughts and feelings, so we can have deep joy, even in the midst of suffering - and be a witness to God's love for all people.

• YEMEN: The civil war between the Shiite Houthis in the north and the Sunni in the south is also a proxy war between Shiite Iran and Sunni Saudi Arabia. It goes on, even though Afghanistan has attracted all the media attention. Yemen is currently considered the world's greatest humanitarian disaster. The country is divided, but underground Christian communities are growing throughout the country. The Church in Yemen is the largest indigenous church in the entire Arabian Peninsula. Christians cannot officially identify themselves as Christians without facing direct reprisals but are courageous and confess their faith in Jesus in private conversation. This is why the church is growing. Leaders are sometimes actively sought by the authorities and also by extremists. We pray for courage for the believers and for humanitarian aid for the country. CM helps here through our partner organization and the local church.

• SOMALIA: Shino & Shanaia Gabo are an Evangelist couple from Somalia. Shanaia became a Christian after watching an IS video showing the beheading of an IS prisoner. She was so shocked and disgusted that she began to question Islam. When she discovered the Gospel, the good news of love and Grace in Jesus she knew that she had found what she had been looking for and gave her life to Christ. Her husband Shino resisted at first, but he saw the truth and got the burden to share the Gospel with their people, the Somalis. They are reaching many Somalis - with thousands of converts - and even Westerners since they started broadcasting in English.  But opposition is stiff. Pray that all the efforts of the enemy to stop their programmes would be fruitless and that God would keep His hand over them and their ministry.

• AFGHANISTAN: Alongside all the terrible mews coming out of the country, Afghanistan has been experiencing a boom in social media. Through CM cooperation partners’ efforts in Media ministries Mohabat-TV and Al-Hayat-TV more Afghans than ever before are hearing and responding to the Gospel. While many of the Pashtuns have welcomed the Taliban and its reactionary Islamic ideology, there are significant groups of the Hazaras who are disillusioned with Islam and are searching for alternatives. The Hazaras are the third largest ethnic group in Afghanistan – despised and persecuted by the Taliban because of their ethnicity and Shiite faith. Many are responding to the Gospel. Pray for continued protection and growth for the body of Christ in Afghanistan during these so trying days. Pray that we will be able to relocate those in immediate danger of being executed.

Thank you for supporting us in prayer. 

Shalom- Peace be with you-

Yassir Eric and co-workers

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